The Legal Services Ombudsman kept up the pressure on the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) this week by issuing an unprecedented and largely critical interim report into its operation.

Zahida Manzoor said that although there have recently been some signs of modest improvement, 'it saddens me to report that, as I had feared, the complaints-handling performance of the OSS has continued to deteriorate'.

Ms Manzoor said she had considered it inappropriate to wait for her next annual report - expected in June 2004 - to assess the OSS's progress.

She found that 'a multitude of new initiatives' and substantial investment in IT in recent years have failed to deliver, leading to the backlog of complaints rising from 4,434 in January 2002 to 8,545 by September 2003.

Ms Manzoor said the Law Society is failing to meet all but one of its government-agreed targets for complaints handling in 2003.

These include closing 60% of cases within three months (the OSS has managed 45%) and the ombudsman's satisfaction rating - she was only satisfied with the OSS's handling in 57% of cases referred to her.

The target is 75%.

On the positive side, she said there has been 'significant improvement in performance' at the customer assistance unit - complainants' first stop - where call answering has been upgraded.

The ombudsman said there should be more efforts to ensure solicitors handle complaints properly.

She suggested all firms be subject to an annual audit of their compliance with practice rule 15, and expressed concern that the Law Society's plan to make regular spot checks on all firms 'has fallen well below target'.

Ms Manzoor also backed tentative plans to introduce compulsory training in client care and complaints handling for solicitors, while questioning whether solicitors should face reaccreditation every five years if they are to continue practising.

She added: 'We welcome the modest improvements put into place by the Law Society.

However, we should exercise caution before accepting that this improvement provides compelling evidence that the OSS has finally assembled the resources needed to address fully and effectively all new complaints, let alone begin to make inroads into the very substantial backlog.'

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'We accept there is still much work for us to do to deliver a consumer complaints service which meets the standards we are aiming for.

'But we are disappointed that the report fails to recognise properly the significant progress which has been made over the last few months.'

Department for Constitutional Affairs minister David Lammy welcomed Ms Manzoor's report, saying it is 'disappointing' that she has not found substantial improvement in the OSS's performance.

In September, the government appointed Ms Manzoor separately to the post of Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, giving her greater powers in overseeing the OSS.

Mr Lammy stressed that this was 'an interim measure, pending consideration of David Clementi's review on the regulation of the legal services market'.

By Neil Rose